French has two words spelled mail: the mallet and the old game and promenade named after it, inherited from Latin, and the recent mail “email”, from English.[1][2]
mail1 mallet; promenade
Pronunciation
- IPA: /maj/[2]
Forms
mail m (plural mails)[2]
Etymology
The mallet is inherited from Old French mail, inherited from Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”),[3][4][5][6] a technical word that Rey compares with Old Church Slavonic млатъ (mlatŭ, “hammer”) and Old Norse Mjǫllnir, the name of Thor's hammer.[4] Cognate with Romanian mai, Italian maglio, Occitan malh, Catalan mall and Portuguese malho.[7][8] English maul and English mall come from it.[7]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has mailz de fer, iron hammers.[3][9]
Semantic evolution
The old sense “heavy hammer” was ousted by the diminutive maillet, except in some trades (a quarryman's hammer, 1803).[3][5] With the popularity of the game in the 17th century, mail named the long-handled mallet used to drive a wooden ball, and the game itself, a forerunner of golf and croquet (Monet, 1636).[3][10] By metonymy it named the alley where the game was played (1636) and then a public promenade (1680), especially in the towns of the Loire valley such as Orléans.[3][5] In Quebec French mail also means a shopping mall.[2][10]
Timeline
- c. 1100 – Mailz de fer in the Chanson de Roland.[3]
- c. 1230 – The diminutive maillet.[4]
- 1636 – The game of mall and its alley, in Monet.[3]
- 1680 – A public promenade, in Richelet.[3]
- 1803 – A quarryman's hammer, in Boiste.[3]
Meanings
Noun
- (historical) The game of pall-mall; the long-handled mallet used in it.[11][10]
- A tree-lined public walk, a mall.[11][3]
- A pedestrian street in a shopping centre, (Quebec) a shopping mall.[10][2]
- (technical) A quarryman's heavy hammer.[1][3]
Word family
- maillet
- mailloche
- chamailler
mail2 email
Pronunciation
Forms
mail m (plural mails)[2]
Etymology
The email word is a clipping of the anglicism “e-mail”, borrowed from English email, in which mail means “post”.[1][7][2] It is pronounced in the English way, unlike the native “mail”.[2][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Grand Robert dates it to about 1980,[1] the Petit Robert to 1998.[7]
Semantic evolution
It is used informally for an electronic message and for an email address (donner son mail).[7][11] It competes with courriel.[7]
Timeline
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- malléable
- marteau
- courriel
References
- ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
- ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 116a
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
- ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Mail.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mail. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
Last edited on . ·